Once Upon a Time Midseason Finale Recap: The Never Land -- Plus: Mystery Villain Revealed!

This Sunday, in the midseason finale of ABC’s Once Upon a Time, the Storybrooke heroes banded together in hopes of defeating Peter Pan — but what price might they ultimately need to pay to do so? Plus: Who’s the big bad for the second half of Season 3?

IN ASSORTED FLASHBACKS…. | We see how Hook and Tinker Bell first met cute, with her holding a knife to his throat in Neverland. There, it’s revealed that Hook only risks his life for two things: love (as he does later, for Emma) or Revenge revenge…. Outside school, when Henry laments to Mary Margaret that he feels like he doesn’t belong, she gifts him with a Once Upon a Time storybook that recently appeared in her closet “like magic.” For an instant afterwards, Henry sees his teacher as Snow White…. Belle finds Rumplestiltskin remembering lost Bae in his birthday…. And we get an encore of Emma birthing Henry but unwilling to look at or hold him.

IN STORYBROOKE…. | At the Storybrooke well, Pan (as Henry) explains to Felix how his plan to re-cast the Dark Curse upon Storybrooke will be a fate worse than death for their foes, since their identity-free “suffering will be eternal.” The only missing ingredient for the spell is the heart of the thing Pan loves most — which Felix assumes is Rumplestiltskin’s. But Pan corrects, “I never loved Rumple,” then explains how “love” can mean many things — including an appreciation of loyalty over the years. Pan thus plucks out Felix’s pumper, crushes it into the well, and a green smoke begins to bellow….

Elsewhere, Rumple explains to the gang how Pan’s plan can be stopped if they destroy the curse’s scroll, though doing so will come with “a steep price.” First step: Swap the boys’ bodies back, which requires the black fairy’s wand hidden at the convent where Blue is lying in state. Hook, Neal, Charming and Tink set out to procure the wand, but are confronted by Pan’s shadow. To trap him in the candle, Tink manages to make the pixie dust work and floats to the rafters, capturing the creature and then destroying it once and for all. Blue is in turn revived, and assures Tink that she has earned her wings back many times over.

At his shop with wand in hand, Rumple explains how he will return Henry to his body, at which point the lad is to bring the scroll to them to be destroyed. (No one thinking for a minute what Felix, who for all they know is alive, would do upon realizing Pan was gone. But anyway….) After casting the spell, Rumple stays behind to tend to “unfinished business” with his father while the others seek out Henry. But when Pan comes to, he scoffs at Rumple’s attempt to mute his powers with Greg and Tamara’s cuff — which Pan aka Home Office himself designed and thus is immune to. Pan renders his son helpless by slapping the cuff on his wrist, and gives him a beating.

Granny, using her nose, leads the group to Henry, but the moment Regina lays hands on the scroll, she passes out. Upon coming to, she explains that she “saw what needs to be done” to pull off their plan — and then Pan pops up to snatch the scroll and gloat. Rumple winds up getting the best of his father by sneaking up on him, declaring, “I have a job to finish” and “a price I’m finally willing to pay.” After essentially saying goodbye to Bae and Belle, Rumple summons his shadow to bring the dagger he left behind in Neverland and plunges it into both Pan and himself. Pan briefly morphs back into Malcolm and futily pleads, “We can start over…,” but Rumple (“Villains don’t get happy endings!”) twists the dagger further, sending them both vanishing in a burst of light.

And then the waterworks begin. (In fact, the streets are suddenly rain-soaked…?) As Belle sobs over losing Rumple, and Neal acknowledges his estranged dad’s sacrifice, Regina reveals the big wrinkle in stopping the curse: “I have to say goodbye to the thing I love most. I can never see Henry again.” As she explains, breaking the curse will “wink” Storybrooke away as if it never existed, while returning everyone — save Henry, who was born in our realm — to The Enchanted Forest. But he won’t be left here alone. Emma, as the Savior, can escape the curse and be with him — though Emma at first suggests they travel with everyone else to Fairytale Land. Alas that’s not an option, because Regina must pay a price. “But I just found you,” Emma cries to Snow and Charming. “I’m not done” restoring happy endings. Snow explains that happy endings aren’t always what we expect them to be, plus now she and Henry can be a family. Even Regina is accepting of the arrangement, admitting, “All I’ve wanted was for you to get the hell away from my son. But really what I want is for Henry to be happy.”

Reconvening at the town line, Emma hugs her folks goodbye, while Henry laments to Regina, “This is all my fault,” having not recognized that his mother did love him and then seeking out Emma in the first place. But Regina takes all blame, saying, “It was my fault to cast a curse out of vengeance…. Villains don’t get happy endings.” But, Henry declares, “You’re not a villain. You’re my mom.”

Emma says bye to her guys, first hugging Neal, who asserts, “This isn’t over.” Hook, meanwhile, first goes for laughs — “It’s quite a vessel you captain there, Swan,” mocking her VW bug — then shares, “Not a day will go by when I don’t think of you.” “Good,” Emma very warmly smiles. (Did it just get hot in here…?!) Regina then drops a final bombshell, that because Storybrooke will have never existed, neither will Emma and Henry’s memories of their time there. To fill the void, Regina grants them “good memories,” a past where Emma never gave Henry up for adoption. “But that past won’t be real,” Emma comments. “But your future will,” Regina responds. And as Regina rips the scroll and zaps the encroaching smoke, Emma and Henry drive off, leaving nothing behind — and we see that in Emma’s revamped memory of childbirth, she did hold Henry.

IN NEW YORK CITY, ONE YEAR LATER…. | The alarm clocks hits 8:15, Lou Reed’s “Charley’s Girl” (aka Neal’s intro song) is playing and Emma sits down for breakfast with Henry — but they’re interrupted by a knock at the door. It’s Hook. “Swan! At last. … Something terrible has happened. Your family is in trouble,” he reports, Doc Brown-like. But Emma, post-mind wipe, has no idea who this guylinered fella in leather is. To (hopefully) jog her memory, he goes in for a “true love’s” kiss, but is forcibly rebuffed. (“It was a long shot,” he admits. “Had to try.”) Poised to call the cops, Emma closes the door on this stranger as he beckons, “You have to remem–.”

THEN, IN THE MIDSEASON PROMO…. | It is revealed that come March 9, when Season 3B opens, Lost looker Rebecca Mader will be playing… the Wicked Witch of the West!

What did you think of Once‘s midseason finale? And how about some props for Jennifer Morrison and Lana Parrilla in those final scenes? And what burning questions would you like me to seek answers to during the 12-week hiatus?

I have to admit that I ship Emma and Neal because the shortened version of my name is Emma and I’ve called my husband Bae for years. So selfishly I want to see them make it work, because it’s so cute to see another couple with our names on TV (lol). But even I can’t deny that Jennifer Morrison put a lil extra UMPH into saying goodbye to Hook last night. I mean that side eye was everything.

I think that every fairy tale character no matter if they escaped the curse or not, or if they were part of the curse or not, had to go back to their fairy tale land because none of them, not even Neil, belong in our real world which is true. Now Emma is the savior (she is the exception of the rule because she is special) that’s why she could stay in the real world even though she is a fairy tale character too plus let’s face it she is the only one of the fairy tale characters that has never ever lived in a fairy tale land. That’s how we should take it. Now my question is EVERYONE ELSE STILL remembers everything right? Except Emma & Henry of course…
As for the wicked witch yeap it can’t be the original one from the classic wizard of Oz because the rights are owned by WB as far as I know, but Disney can use Oz like we’ve seen it in their movie, but have to stay close to only what the books show, (or their on twits of course) not to what we see in the wizard of oz classic movie. MARCH 9th yeap that’s the only thing that sucks!!! TO LONG!!

Yes, I would say that everyone in FTL still remembers everything. Or if they don’t, they regain their memories fairly quickly. Hook would have no reason to go and find Emma if they didn’t. Emma and Henry are basically in the same situation that everyone in season 1 was in, they have cursed memories and don’t remember their real ones.

I’d venture to say that Charley’s Girl is NOT Neal’s intro song, it is the song that is playing when he is introduced, yes. Introduced in New York, and finds out the curse is “Broken”. He does not go after Emma.

Second time it is playing, Emma and Henry are listening to it during breakfast, they are in New York, and who comes after Emma to help her family?

How is a song playing when a character is introduced not considered an intro song? Especially on a show like this where the music is such a huge background theme. For example, the Snow/Charming theme playing during moments between those two, Emma’s theme playing during her moments, the Evil Queen theme, etc. I’m sorry if you don’t ship SwanThief, but it’s ridiculous to say that the song wasn’t chosen to parallel meeting Neal for the first time. Especially considering we were meeting the “new” Emma and Henry.

Yeah, but Ruby was a main character (she appeared almost in every episode until she left), Ashley was in one episode, Geppetto and Pinocchio, and Jefferson & Grace also were in just a handful of episodes and got their happy ending, but Ruby was a still shoulde be Snow´s best friend, she´s Granny´s daughter! And she´s not with the gang but mainly Granny, when the town is about to be destroyed (S2 finale)? She´s not there to welcome everyone back from Neverland? I know the actress is not available, but at least give a clever excuse, why Ruby isn´t with her family in such moments when she should be in Storybrooke!

I actually agree with this, I’m okay with the other characters not being mentioned not everyone would cross paths everyday but Ruby was very closely tied to Granny and Snow…it seems wired. Maybe she’s been ‘wolf-napped’

Am I the only one irritated by the fact that Ruby´s whereabouts are never adressed? It´s pretty weird with Granny still around. They could at least say something like that she´s helping others or IDK… Granny doesn´t want to be with her in moments like “there´s a chance we again forget each other”?

Right now we don’t know for sure, but considering Hook went looking for Emma and Snow in the promo says ‘we’re back,” it’s safe to assume that everyone in FTL still has their memories. Emma and Henry have cursed memories right now.

Even my roomie (who is a hardcore Bea/Emma fan girl) admitted that Hook and Emma are good together and that it seems like true love. She was upset about it for about 30 min. and then was like but, “Hook really loves her. He would do anything for her. When she left Bea it was like two friends. Damn. Hook and Emma do have passion. I can live with this.” and she noticed the not remembering parallels between Snow and Charming as well as Rumple and Belle.

She has seen the light!!!

Oh Captain Swan your ship is amazing!

BTW so sad for the rest of it! Ahhh BELLE I cried for you! Plus Regina, Snow, and Charming? To much for me to handle!

I like the reset. I mean, c’mon, what else were they gonna do? Keep sending baddies to Storybrooke? At least in FTL, they aren’t held to the restraints of the “real world.” This gives the writers alot more room to play with. Last night, I was kinda upset, especially about Emma and Henry having to re-discover everything. but now that I think about it, it may be fun. I would have been OK with the 2 of them “stuck” in the real world, too, trying to figure out how to get to their families. But, OK, this way seems to offer many ways to go with everyone’s stories.

I did like the bookend use of Charley’s Girl, how the beginning of Season 2 started with Neal listening to it in NYC and the end of 3A had them listening to it in an apartment in NYC. I noticed Emma is looking at a dreamcatcher in the promo, is it possible that she and Henry ended up living in Neal’s apartment? I don’t have 2.1 recorded so I can’t go back and look, but it could be the same apartment with a different furniture layout.

Ok now, who wants to bet that the Wicked Witch is this black fairy that suddenly came up? God I can’t believe we’re going back to breaking a curse, I love this show but it’s starting to get on my nerves. Thank heavens for the comic relief that Hook turned out to be, cause it’s the last freakin reason I have to be watching!

I’m obviously in the minority here. This season has been so stupid. Pan was so annoying. Everyone raves about how good an actor that kid is, but he’s really not. It’s really just disappointing,a show I used to be so excited for and couldn’t wait for the next episode has turned into a chore.

sir, please tell me that Robert Carlyle is not dead on once upon a time, not only was he the best talent on the show, but I have to say without him on its quite possible I will be jumping ship. and if he is truly dead is he the blind item?

In the PROMO, Hook is in the Enchanted Forest. How did he get to New York a year later and why did he end up in the Enchanted Forest? Regina said that “everyone who was born there would go back”. Wasn’t Hook born in England or something?

Actually, it is weird. On the episode where they show Hook´s story, they say he was a sailor, they did not mention The Enchanted Forest or something like that. There must be an explanation. Writers must do a videochat or something for us to ask ALL our questions.

This show must last 10 seasons for the writers to have time to bring all fairy tales characters into it… I do not get why Aladdin is still out of the picture. In Once Upon A Time in Wonderland, Jafar is a main character but I´d rather put Aladdin here in Once Upon a Time.
I also think that other stories like Mulan´s or Aurora´s were too weak. Hope they get a better participation on the following seasons…
Have you guys thought of any other characters which should be here?

Characters that I would love to see in the future on OUAT: Cruella, the real Ursula, Hercules, Hades, the Muses/Fates, Pocahontas/John Smith, Aladdin. Bambi and Hunchback/Esmeralda too. Charcters I’d love to see return would Adult August, Jefferson, Sheriff Graham/Cora (flashbacks).

Westley: Hear this now: I will always come for you.
Buttercup: But how can you be sure?
Westley: This is true love – you think this happens every day?

Westley: As you wish.
Grandpa: [voiceover] That day, she was amazed to discover that when he was saying “As you wish”, what he meant was, “I love you.” And even more amazing was the day she realized she truly loved him back.
Buttercup: Farm boy… fetch me that

They didn’t get married did they? Besides, I really don’t find this creepy at all. I don’t understand why people do. It is a completely different time and a fairy tale about finding your one true love. True love overcomes all.
Its been Hook/Emma since season 1. Before he was even on the show. The writers have had a plan with him.

The common-law principle and Hook’s having described Milah as his true love aside, there’s something a trifle ewww-inspiring about Emma having sex with a man who was her ex’s mother’s lover. Or her son’s grandmother’s lover, if you prefer.
I liked Hook best when he was trying to connect with young Bae, when he was offering him a home: his love for Milah and his pain at losing her seemed so real I was almost disappointed when Bae responded angrily. His scene with Tink was good as well — when she replied “I may have lost my wings, but I haven’t lost my dignity”. I think the writers wanted to keep Hook — the character seemed to have real potential — but didn’t know what on earth to do with him, so exit the memory of his true love and he’s madly in love with Emma.
The actor who plays Neal actually grew on me: it’s going to be interesting to see how someone who’s spent years in this world deals with returning to the medieval world of EF.
On the topic of inexplicable pairings, have I missed something with Regina and Robin Hood? I know they’ve twisted a few of the classic fairy tales, but unless they’re doing a Robin of Sherwood, with a second person stepping into the place of the original Robin Hood, I can’t imagine how they’ll make marrying Maid Marion the ruin of Robin Hood’s life.

“so exit the memory of his true love and he’s madly in love with Emma.” –> I don’t think he just forgot about Milah. It’s been X amount of years maybe hundreds, who knows, since Rumple killed her. Revenge clearly didn’t give him the satisfaction he thought it would as we saw near the end of last season, so he decided to let it go and move on and in the process he developed strong feelings for Emma. I guess for me, and I believe many others like @Allie above, I just don’t see it as that big a deal and I don’t find it creepy that Hook had that connection with Milah years ago and now he is in love with Emma. It’s like, for example, those SwanQueen shippers who desperately want to see Emma/Regina romance when technically she’s basically her step-grandmother in a way. If that is thought of as okay by those people since they never knew each other, I’d think the same thing applies.here. The writers don’t seem to see much of an issue with it. Hook never knew Emma. There is absolutely no blood connection and there is who knows how much time having passed. I think many people (I’m not saying all people or you in particular, but several comments over time that I’ve noticed since last season) don’t really seem opposed to Hook/Emma because of this Milah connection but more so because they just dislike Hook or prefer Neal and they use the “familial” connection as an excuse against it. Anyways, as usual we all have our opinions so let’s agree to disagree. The writers will do what they want to do and we’ll see how it plays out. If they choose that she doesn’t end up with Hook though, I personally hope they find a new person other than Neal because I find the character incredibly dull and the role was miscast. I remember liking MRJ on True Blood, but he brings nothing to this show IMO. It’s like he phoning it in each episode. I definitely preferred the character as young Bae.
Also, they made Pan this pure evil villain this season, so maybe their twist on Robin Hood is that Marion ruined his life. This whole show is about reinventing these classic fairytales in new and different ways. I’m gonna wait and see how it plays out.

Again, well stated and I agree with everything you say here. I’ve never understood why some argue that Hook and Emma seems so forced. He flirted with her casually the same as he does with most women (defense mechanism) in the beginning but she piqued his interest time and time again because she kept besting him and he realized she is a strong, bad-ass, independent woman! And he found that super appealing. Can you blame him?? He’s an adventurous, kindred spirit and probably saw much of the same in Emma, hence he became more and more legitimately attracted to her. I’m not offended that he had a relationship with Milah like 300 years ago. That is a super long time and he didn’t just drop her a week later (Ahem, Neal and Tamara!). He mourned her loss for centuries and sought revenge on her behalf. He has proven to be the utmost of loyal partners and I think that’s commendable. Most women should be so lucky to have such a devoted partner/spouse. I think he’s done a lot of bad, “gray area,” type things along the way because he’s also a survivalist. I think people overlook the fact that Hook did a lot of bad things out of necessity to survive and/or further drive his desire for revenge. He wasn’t doing those things or making those deals to deliberately hurt people or seek power/control for himself (Cora/Regina/Rumple). He was perfectly content just being the adventurous, ornery, rum-swigging pirate, Killian Jones, and going on adventures around the realms with his mates and his true love on board. He wasn’t always bad, as the writers showed us in Good Form. Granted his descent from honorable Navy Officer to pirate felt rushed and a bit unrealistic, but they have a lot to squeeze into 45 minutes sometimes (tbh, they could spend less time on FTL flashbacks at times to drive the present day story a little better).

Anyway, you make a really valid point with the SwanQueen shippers, too. I get the impression that a lot of people want Neal simply because they don’t like Hook for some of the shady things he did in the past and overlook that Neal is the root cause for many of Emma’s issues in her adult life. I’ve noticed a lot of people are biased to Neal because they want a traditional, nuclear family “for Henry’s sake” but I’ve not gotten the impression Henry would be terribly upset to Emma choosing happiness with another man because in the end, Neal seems to be willing to stick around so he still has his biological father at this point and the kid is used to having a confusing, non-traditional family tree at this point. I mean, he’s willing to accept fairy tales are real, so why would he be opposed to Captain Hook being his step father? Let’s be real.

@Shandelle Well said! I agree with everything you’ve said. Hook has done many shady and bad things in the past, but I’d be incredibly pissed off if someone chopped off my hand and killed someone I loved. A huge aspect of this show has been redemption. We’ve seen it continuously a part of Regina and Rumple’s journey. Even with Snow, she tried to redeem herself in a way after her involvement with Cora’s death. Yet, I have seen countless times that people are unwilling to let the Hook character evolve and redeem himself and let us get to know him better. Every post talks about how people only like him because of his looks. I think Lana is gorgeous. Does that mean that her looks are the only reason I am interested in her character, her story and her quest for redemption and being apart of Henry’s life? No. I think Hook is hilarious and we’ve seen him change a lot this season and while he is still a pirate and has a long way to go ahead of him, there has been a lot of development with the character lately, like choosing not keeping the fact that Neal was alive a secret, helping David with the Dreamshade, deciding to embark on a trip back to Neverland (the place that claimed his brother’s life) to help Emma. I see chemistry with him and Emma and a connection that has been building since he first came on last season (yes, I know there are many out there who don’t see it or maybe they just refuse to acknowledge it because they prefer Neal). Look at how different the goodbyes between Neal/Emma and Hook/Emma. The goodbye with Neal felt like just saying goodbye to a friend and between to people who share a kid together. Emma was right to focus on Henry and I think she needs more time to get to know herself before letting anyone else in, but I don’t find it creepy at all if that someone is eventually Hook.
Also, if we look at the timeline this season. It’s basically been what two weeks since Neal was still engaged to Tamara and all of a sudden he is the one who should be with Emma whereas Hook has been alone for many years for all we know. Emma is a badass, smart, amazing woman and the first woman he’s had a connection with after thinking for so long that he could never let go of the anger and would never meet someone again. I say if it happens, I’m all for it!
I too thought the way he became a pirate was a bit rushed and with some flashbacks they should really cut down on them if they’re not really adding anything to the present story like with last weeks Charmings/Medusa storyline. They were pretty useless and boring.
And great point about Henry. He’s basically willing to accept both Regina and Emma as equal mothers to him. I don’t think he will have a problem with not having a “traditional” family. Plus, Neal promised to stay in his life so he wouldn’t be losing his father just because he might not be with Emma.

Maid Marian is dead in the OUAT version. When Neal fell into EF at the beginning of this season, he met Robinhood explained that he was a widower. They used Robin & Marian’s son to lure Pan’s shadow & that’s how Neal got from EF to Neverland.

Matt, have my eyes deceived me, or at :03 seconds in, do we see Emma Swan at Regina’s mayoral desk? Regina is throwing something in what appears to be an unhappy manner. Does the “new” curse put Emma on top in the new Storybrooke?

1. How is the Dark One dagger able to kill Pan? Pan’s magic seems unrelated to the dagger. The only thing I can think is that perhaps when Rumple stabs both Pan and himself, Pan inherits the Dark One curse (since technically he is linked with the dagger while Rumple dies) and dies at the same time…but that seems too complicated.

2. With Pan dead, how would his version of the Curse have actually affected Storybrooke, had Regina not intervened?

3. Why does Regina’s undo of the Curse affect characters who were never a part of it? Baelfire, Hook, Tinkerbell, Pinochio, Ariel, the Darlings, the Lost Boys, etc. all came to Storybrooke separately from the curse. In particular, Bae was in our world LONG before the curse. And he is the father of Henry, so you can’t undo him meeting Emma without also undoing Henry.

It was explained to me that Neal originated in the EF as did Tink, however fairies are “born.” Neal originally left the EF through a one time portal, but he was not born in the land without magic and thus does not belong here technically. The curse was removing STB and any extension of the EF, including Neal, Hook and Tink. We don’t know much about Hook’s origination, but I don’t think he was born here either. We don’t know how Tink got to NVL but she originates in the EF. Hook managed to get to STB through a one time portal as well. But because he originates from some magical land vs our land, he got taken away, too. That is the best way I understand it and I think it mostly seems logical at this point. The new curse allowed everyone to keep their memories so long as they returned to where they came from. Emma was allowed the exception (choice) due to her Savior status and she chose to remain in our land so Henry would have a parent. None of Emma’s memories were erased up to the point of her giving birth to Henry; all of that STILL happened and Neal still has memory of it, as well. That does not mean Henry can’t exist anymore. Emma still met Neal, all of that still happened, he has memory of it. Emma has those memories through the birth with Regina’s fake memories kicking in when Emma decided to hold henry instead of give him away. So Neal was still there, he just could not stay there because he A) Did not originate in our land and thus ‘does not belong here’ and B) he didn’t have Savior status exemption. His one time portal doesn’t exist any longer (same with whatever portal Hook used to come here with Cora).

The way I see it, is the writers wanted to send everyone back to FTL as they didn’t really have any good villains for storylines in SB (at least at the min). So they thought right lets reverse the curse and send everyone who was affected back to FTL, then they though ohh dear we have way too many people who weren’t affected (Hook, Tink, Neal etc) to give creditable stories in the real world post reverse curse. Okay we will go for everyone who was born in FTL, ohh crap that only leaves Henry in the real world but we cant have everyone back in FTL as that would be too happy and so we need some people to stay in the real world. Henry has to be one of them as he is reginas sacrifice for the curse to work (even though for the first one she needed the heart of the thing she loved the most), so we will go for Emma is the Saviour that’s why only she can stay with Henry. Its a reason but not a good one with way too many holes in it. Basically they are using circular logic because they don’t have a good plotline for why she (who escaped the first curse) can stay an everyone else who did cant. I get that she is the product of true love and destined to break the first curse but she did that, the reason she can stay seems to be more due to the fact that the first one didn’t effect her rather than her being born of true love, so why cant everyone else who wasn’t effected not stay. The writers are choosing an easy out by saying it because she is the Saviour, that way they don’t have to think of an actual reason beyond shes the saviour.

Has anyone considered the fact that maybe Hook wasn’t SENT back by Emma’s family or Rumple (come on – he’s not dead) or Regina? Hook has operated as pretty much a loner on most of his stint on OUAT. He might just go off on his own without explaining his plan to the others. Is it possible that he uses his considerable charms on the new FEMALE villain to secure her help in getting passage back to Emma? What if a bargain was struck? What if the sands in a gigantic hour glass are slowly trickling down and Hook has until they expire to convince Emma to come back? What if the WWOW placed many obstacles in his path to Emma to make sure he doesn’t reach her in time? (“Swan…at last!”) What if he is SO desperate when he finally sees her that he tries the kiss as a quick fix because time is almost up? What if the consequence of his failing to convince Emma in time is something awful? (Think flying monkey in leather pirate garb or eternal consort to the WWOW)…. Uh, would this preposterous scenario make Hook Dorothy?

I get what people are saying, but honestly it doesn’t make sense, because the only thing regina could actually do is reverse her own curse, how could it effect neal who came to earth through a totally different portal before the curse even existed. And hook was protected from the curse by cora so he was not effected by the curse and came to storybook on his own way later, August came to earth with emma right before the curse and also was not effected, so i honestly don’t get how regina has the power to bring back people to storybook that where never effected by her curse. I guess its just one of those things the writer’s are going to leave us to wonder and probably never answer.In advanced I apologize for any typos I typed fast on my phone and did not go back to read 8)

It doesn’t matter where they were when the curse was originally cast. I don’t know why everyone keeps saying that and arguing about who was part of the curse and who wasn’t. The only thing that matters is where they were born. If they were born in Fairytale Land, they will be sent back … And they were ALL born in Fairytale Land. The ONLY person who was not born there is Henry. Emma was born there but she is a loophole to the curse since she is the savior. Everyone else has to go back. Neal, August, Hook, Tink, etc. They are all from FTL, so they are all going back. Where they were when the curse was cast does not matter.